Night of the Fire
by MissAnnThropic
Summary: A fic built on Dean's line to Lucas in "Dead in the Water" - - "When I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom."


Title: Night of the Fire

Author: MissAnnThropic

Spoilers: through Dead in the Water

LiveJournal: miss_annthropic(dot)livejournal(dot)com

Summary: A fic built on Dean's line to Lucas in "Dead in the Water" - - "When I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom."

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching DVDs of her favorite shows :(

Author's Note: I really think the idea that Dean _saw_ something that night explains so many of his issues.

* * *

Dean has a super-secret, super-important job. It's so super-secret, Mom and Dad don't even know about it, but it's really important. Because Dean's a big brother, and he's supposed to take care of little Sammy.

It's the same thing every night… Mom puts Sammy to bed, Dean kisses his baby brother goodnight, and then Dean goes into his very own room to go to sleep.

Except he doesn't. Not right away. He stays in bed and keeps quiet so Mom and Dad don't find out about his super-secret job, because he's a big boy and Sammy needs him.

Sammy doesn't fall asleep as soon as Mom puts him in his crib. Mom and Dad tell their friends and the neighbor lady and everybody what a good baby Sammy is, and how he falls right to sleep, but he doesn't really.

But that's okay, because Dean is there to take care of it.

Dean sits up in bed at night and listens very carefully for sounds from his brother's room. Sammy's room is right next to his, and Dean leaves his door open (he tells Mom and Dad it's so the hall light can get in, but of course it's really about Sammy, because Dean's too big to be scared of the dark), and he listens for noises from his baby brother.

Sammy stays quiet for a little while after Mom puts him to bed, but when he gets bored with his spiny-thing or his stuffed animals, he starts to fuss.

That's when it's time for Dean's really important job. Mom and Dad will sleep through it in the beginning, before Sammy really starts getting upset. That's when Dean slips out of bed and sneaks into Sammy's room.

Sammy knows his brother will come. He's always looking toward the door waiting for Dean. Dean will go up to the crib, stick one hand through the bars, and hold Sammy's hand or brush the hair on the top of his head. Sammy _is_ a good baby if he's being touched. He likes to touch people. When he's being held, he's quiet. Dean isn't allowed to pick Sammy up by himself, not yet, but just touching him seems to be enough. Sammy will smile at his big brother and reach for him, and after they play for a while Sammy gets sleepy. Dean stays until Sammy goes to sleep. When his job is done, Dean goes back to his room and falls asleep.

It might not be a big job like the one Dad goes to every day, but it's a really important job.

That night Dean was pretty tired. Dad took him out in the yard after he got home from work to play football. Dean wasn't very good at catching or throwing the ball, but he liked running across the yard to score 'touchdowns'. It was just that it made him really sleepy by bedtime.

After Mom put Sammy in his crib and Dean kissed him goodnight, Dad took Dean into his room. Dean pretended to go to sleep until Mom and Dad left his room.

Except Dean actually did fall asleep.

He woke up suddenly when he heard Sammy in the next room fussing. Dean couldn't believe he'd almost not done his important big brother job! Sammy sounded like he'd been making little noises for a while, probably wondering where Dean was.

Dean slipped out of bed and crept to his open bedroom door. Like a super-cool spy, he peeked out into the hall to see if Mom or Dad were in sight. Sammy was getting pretty loud. Mom and Dad would probably wake up soon if Dean didn't hurry over to Sammy's room.

Dean was about to creep over to Sammy's room when Mom came shuffling out of her and Dad's bedroom. Dean ducked back into his room and hid in the shadows. He listened to Mom go up to Sam's room.

"…John? Is he hungry?"

"_Shhhh_…."

"Okay…"

Dean ducked back when Mom walked past his room toward the stairs.

If Dad was with Sammy, then Dean could go back to bed. It wouldn't be the same as his big brother playing with him, but Sammy would fall asleep for Dad.

Dean stopped when the noises from Sammy's room seemed… wrong. Sammy didn't sound right. Like he was sick or had a booboo.

Maybe Dad didn't know how to make Sammy sleepy right. It might be a special big brother superpower.

Big brother Dean to the rescue!

Dean snuck out of his room and walked over to the open door of Sammy's room.

Dad was in the room.

Dean stood and watched Dad a second, to try and figure out what he was doing wrong with Sammy.

That's when Dean felt cold all over.

That _wasn't_ Dad.

There was a strange man there standing over Sammy's crib. He was big and tall, like Dad, but Dean knew it wasn't him. Someone was in his brother's room! He could be trying to hurt Sammy!

Dean opened his mouth to scream for Mom when he heard footsteps running up the stairs. Mom or Dad was coming to save Sammy.

Dean didn't want to get caught out of bed and get in trouble, so he jumped backward into the doorway to Mom and Dad's bedroom. It was right across the hall from Sammy's room where Dean could still see.

Mom came running down the hall and into Sammy's room.

The man turned.

Dean's eyes widened. The man had _yellow eyes_.

The strange man jerked his head and Mom went flying across the room. Dean heard her hit the wall.

Without meaning to do it, he gasped.

The man with yellow eyes looked directly at him.

Dean stood frozen, scared and confused. 'Mom! _Mom_! _DAD_!' He screamed inside his head, but the words wouldn't come out. He tried to call for help, but he couldn't do it. It was like a truck had run over his chest and he couldn't make a sound.

The yellow-eyed man brought up a finger to his lips. "Shhhh… back to bed, _Dean_."

The only thing Dean's body could do was shake. But it wouldn't scream or run. Dean couldn't move.

The man had Mom and Sammy!

Then Mom was on the ceiling, moving like an upside-down caterpillar. Dean watched in horror, mouth open and eyes wide. Then Mom's white nightgown turned red in the middle of her stomach. The man had hurt Mom; she was _bleeding_.

Dean was terrified. He was so scared but he couldn't make his body move. He couldn't look away from Mom, stuck on the ceiling. She looked like she was trying to talk, her mouth was open and moving, but sound wasn't coming out, just like Dean.

Then Mom looked away from the yellow-eyed man and Sammy and looked at Dean. She saw her big boy standing there watching. _Then_ she screamed.

"_Mary_!" Dad called from downstairs.

Dean jumped. He'd never heard Mom scream like that before. He'd heard her yell for him to come to dinner or yell to stop him from touching something dangerous, but this scream was different. It scared him into moving. Fast as he could, he ran back to his room. His Dad came running up the stairs a second later and went into Sammy's room. Dean took a few steps out into the hall and stood facing his brother's room, waiting and afraid. Now that Dad was there, he'd get rid of the strange man and get Mom off the ceiling. Dad would make everything okay.

The next thing Dean knew, Dad was yelling and fire was coming from Sammy's room. Dean stood in place and stared, confused. Why was there fire? Why wasn't Dad getting rid of the bad man?

In seconds, Dad came running out of the room with Sammy in his arms. He ran straight to Dean and pushed Sammy's into his arms. "Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Go, Dean, _now_!"

Dean gaped at Dad. Why wasn't Mom with him? Why didn't he get her off the ceiling? Why did he let the yellow-eyed man hurt Mom?

But Dad gave Dean a job to do, get Sammy out, and Dean was a good son and good brother. He did what Dad told him to do.

It was the first time Dean ever carried Sammy all by himself, and Sammy was heavy after a few steps, but Dean would never drop him. He would get Sammy outside and Dad would stop the fire and get Mom down and make the police take away the man with yellow eyes.

The only part that did happen was Dean got Sammy out.

Dean never saw Mom again.

Later, when Dad asked Dean what he saw that night, Dean couldn't make himself say it, because what if Dad got mad at him for not doing something to help Mom? What if Dad told Dean it was his fault Mom was dead? What if it was _true_ and Dean could have saved Mom if he'd _done_ something? He couldn't stand being the reason Mom died. He couldn't stand Dad hating him for not saving Mom. So he lied and said he was in bed until the fire.

He never told anyone, but he never forgot the man with yellow eyes and Mom on the ceiling.

END


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